Human health can be negatively affected by factors such as increasing body fat or decreasing bone strength or bone mineralization.
For example, obesity is a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health. Obesity increases the risk of developing certain diseases, such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, obstructive sleep apnea, certain types of cancer, and osteoarthritis. Obesity is a growing public health problem in the United States and throughout the world.
Dieting, behavior modification and physical exercise are the standard treatments for obesity. However, despite widespread awareness of the importance of diet and exercise, obesity is increasingly prevalent in both adults and children. Current alternative treatments for obesity include medications to reduce appetite or to inhibit fat absorption. In severe cases, surgery is performed to reduce stomach volume and/or bowel length, leading to earlier satiation and reduced ability to absorb nutrients from food.
Interventions aimed at increasing the rate of fat metabolism could potentially reduce the symptoms of obesity by facilitating the increased oxidation of excess fat, leading to a decreased percentage of body fat. However, the biochemical factors that may increase or decrease the rate of fat oxidation are not well-understood. Although physical exercise has been shown to increase the rate of fat metabolism, few foods or dietary supplements have been shown to effectively increase the rate of fat oxidation. Thus, there is a need in the art for foods, dietary supplements or nutraceutical that have the demonstrated ability to increase an individual's rate of fat metabolism/oxidation or to decrease the percentage of fat in an individual's body.
As a second example, mineralization of bone is the result of a complex process in which crystals of calcium phosphate are produced by bone-forming cells and laid down in precise amounts within the bone's fibrous matrix or scaffolding. Bone mineral loss is a well-known consequence of aging, and both men and women slowly lose bone mineral content and exhibit decreased bone mineral density beginning at age 30. Post-menopausal woman are at increased risk for additional loss of bone mineral content and decreased bone mineral density, most likely due to decreased estrogen levels.
Decreasing rates of bone mineralization, decreased bone mineral content, and decreased bone mineral density are associated with a wide variety of conditions, and may result in significant medical problems. For example, osteoporosis is a debilitating disease in humans characterized by marked decreases in skeletal bone mass and mineral density and corresponding increases in bone fragility and susceptibility to fracture in afflicted individuals. Fractured hips, wrists, and vertebrae are among the most common injuries associated with osteoporosis. Hip fractures in particular are extremely uncomfortable and expensive for the patient, and for women, correlate with high rates of mortality and morbidity. Osteoporosis is preceded by clinical osteopenia, a very common condition throughout the world. The frequency of osteopenia and osteoporosis increases with age, and they are much more common in women than in men.
Current strategies for the prevention of osteopenia, osteoporosis, and other conditions associated with bone mineral loss include physical activity with the onset of advanced age (specifically, weight bearing activity), preventing calcium deficiency through diet, and avoiding consumption of tobacco. For patients with clinical osteopenia or osteoporosis, most current therapeutic strategies are directed to reducing further loss of bone mass by inhibiting the process of bone resorption.
However, no foods or dietary supplements have been explicitly shown to effectively increase the rate of bone mineralization, or the mineral content or mineral density of bone. Thus, there is a need in the art for foods, dietary supplements or nutraceutical that have the demonstrated ability to increase an individual's bone mineral content or bone strength, particularly in women. Such compositions could be utilized to treat a wide variety of conditions, such as osteopenia, osteoporosis, increased susceptibility to fractures, and other disorders associated with decreased bone mineralization.